(PASADENA, Calif., January 13, 2012) - There are monsters lurking in your living room, and they're creeping out of your television! On Monday night, the monster is a man-eating fish that could mutilate you with one bite. On Tuesday, it's a supersized snapping turtle that could chomp off double digits. Later in the week, the behemoth is bigfoot, still slipping by our investigative team. And then, when the weekend concludes, the monster might be a mermaid - not the singing, animated kind - but the fanged, frightful type that most likely exists deep below the water's surface.

This is Monster Week.

"Monster Week is an event so big, we are making it last for eight nights," says Marjorie Kaplan, president and general manager of Animal Planet. "Everyone likes a good thrill, and the natural world is chock full of them. So it's no mystery why our viewers turn to Animal Planet for stories about enigmatic creatures, both real and fantastical."

This spring, Animal Planet unleashes the beasts for its first-ever Monster Week, hosted by RIVER MONSTERS' Jeremy Wade. For eight nights, the mysterious menaces of the animal world take over the network's lineup, beginning with amped-up episodes of Animal Planet's best-performing series, RIVER MONSTERS, featuring lost footage as well as all-new monster-sized episodes scattered throughout the week and the season finale.

Then, Monster Week reveals the world premiere of CROC-ZILLA (w/t), chronicling the live capture of the world's largest saltwater crocodile, and a never-before-seen episode of frosh series GATOR BOYS. Animal Planet also rolls out new episodes of fan-favorites, including CALL OF THE WILDMAN, starring 'Turtleman' Ernie Brown, Jr., and FINDING BIGFOOT... let's hope we spot the ever-elusive sasquatch this round!

Monster Week culminates with a stunning, two-hour feature that claims the existence of the lost, mythical sirens of the sea in MERMAIDS: THE BODY FOUND. Throughout history, people from nearly every culture have spotted or spoken about this half-man, half-fish anomaly. Amped by stunning CGI and animation, MERMAIDS: THE BODY FOUND details the first-hand accounts of a team of government scientists who testify they've found the remains of a never-before-identified sea creature with ties to human origins. In a story about evolutionary possibility grounded in scientific theory, experts reveal the natural history of mermaids and show us what they looked like, how they lived and how they could have evolved but remained hidden... until now.